There were two brothers who lived the monastic life together, and the evil devil was doing his best to sow discord between them. One day the younger brother went as usual to light the lamp at vespers, and by the machinations of a demon he knocked the candlestick over and the light was extinguished. The evil devil used this occasion to sow strife between them, for the older brother began to scold his brother angrily. But the younger brother prostrated himself, and apologized to his brother.”Forgive me, brother,” he said. “I will go and light the lamp again.”
Because the brother had not given an angry response, the evil spirit was confused and departed immediately, and he reported that same night to the prince of the demons. “I have not been able to prevail against these two, because of the humility of this monk who prostrated himself on the ground before his brother. God saw his humility and poured out his grace upon him, and I am now tortured and tormented because I have not been able to split them up.”
Now a pagan priest who lived nearby overheard this demonic conversation and he was pierced with the fear of God and love for Jesus Christ. Realising how the cult of idols seduced souls and led them to perdition, he left everything and hastened to the holy fathers in the monastery and told them everything that the malicious demons were talking about. The holy fathers instructed him in the wholesome doctrines of our Lord and Saviour, he was baptized and accepted the monastic holy rule of life.
As he advanced with the help of the grace of God he became a most exemplary monk, excelling especially in the virtue of humility, so that he was greatly venerated, and everyone wondered at how great his humility was. He used to say that the practice of humility put to flight all the power of our adversaries the demons. The Lord Jesus Christ triumphed over the devil through his humility and brought all his power to naught. He added that he had often heard the demons talking among themselves, saying, “Whenever we arouse anger in a human heart, and someone suffers the injury patiently, preferring to try and make peace, saying, ‘Sorry, I have sinned’, we immediately feel all our power vanish at the approach of divine grace.”
